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O U T L I N E 

OF THE 



COURSE OF LECTURES 



ilosopi)!) of l^istorn. 



READ BEEORE THE 



Senior Class of The Cornell University, 



Professor JV. 1). Wilson. 




PART I. General Principles. 

LECTURE 1. 

Nitture's Contributions to Humanity. 
Philosophy of History defined ; plan of rhe Course ; the Earth 
as yielding a supply to man's physical wants< the transformations 
of matter preparatory to becoming food for man; ratio of the 
supply oi man's wants to the increase of population and the labor 
bestowed ; Nature teaches man submission by the inflexibility of 
her laws, develops his intellect bv the variety of her objects, 
elevates his sentiments by thd beautv and sublimity of her scenery. 

LECTURE II. 
Trie. Unity and Antiquity oj Man. 
" Species " defined ; Interproduction presumption of specific 
unity; transmutation of species ; physical difierentia of man — 



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mental, moral ; reasons for doubting the unity of origm ; the inference 
from hybridity ; transmission of congenital peculiarities ; the extent 
of climatic influences considered; occasional appearance of abnormal 
individuals ; the " porcupine man ;" theory of the origin and perpet- 
uation of diversity. 

LECTURE III. 
I'arietii's and Migrations of Man. 
The geographical question of migration ; extinct varieties ; 
method and means of tracing the migrations; original types; laws of 
intermixture permanency of typical forms; displacements; the 
Negro migrations j Mongol ; ethnography of Asia, Africa, the Pacific 
Islands and North America ; the Caucasian migrations ; ethnogra- 
phy o^ Europe 5 typical character of the Caucasians.; the origin of 
intermediate types in relation to the doctrine of the unity of origin, 

LECTURE IV. 
Man's Primeval Condition and the Theory of Progress. 
The theory^ of development stated ; its practical bearings ; facts 
in embryology which seem to confirm it ; fallacy of the inference 
from themj historic facts 5 the early civilizations anterior to the 
foundation of the Persian Empire > conditi5n of the savage tribes of 
the present day ; indications of an early civilization among their 
ancestors ; the law and conditions of progress. 

LECTURE V. 

Civilization, its Means and Conditions. 
Civilization defined ; elements essential to all forms; fixed hab- 
itations; private ownership; the influence of labor upon man; 
unequal distribution of property ; effects of it on society ; govern- 
ment ; the first necessity for it; changes in its forms and functions 
occasioned by advancing civilization; the family, the unit of the 
State ; influence of family relations on man ; religion and worship. 

LECTURE VI. 

Physical Causes Determining Centres of Civilization. 
Man's physical constitution in relation to external nature ; effects 
of heat and cold ; elevated positions ; the fertility of the soil ; prox- 
imity to the sea ; limits within which there may be high civilization : 



Mesopotamia, China, India, Egypt, Plienicia ; commerce : Greece, 
Rome, Central Europe, North America. 

LECTURE VII. 

Lai'ge Tozvns and C/iv Life. 
Influences which bring people together ; large towns necessary to 
high civilization ; economy of city life ; size requisite ; constant 
influx of country people; the boys of the country become the men 
of the town ; influence of city life on health ; on the moral and social 
character; cities the centres of great movements; corrupting influ- 
ences which collect in them ; lead in the civilization and in the 
decline of a nation. 

LECTURE Vm. 
The Religious Sentiment in History. 
Nature and origin of the religious sentiment; various manifesta- 
tions, profanity, superstition, fanaticism, monotheism, polytheism, 
mythology; hero-worship, idolatry, fetichism, theurgy, characteristics 
of the principal forms of heathen religion ; tendency to religious 
delusion; disappearance of superstition and mythology; return to 
pure monotheism. 

LECTURE IX. 

The Institution of Property and the Money -power. 
Man must provide for himself; rich and poor in all civilized soci- 
ety; the necessity far it; their relation to each other; landed 
aristocracy ; necessity for a means of exchange ; banking and stock- 
jobbing ; rise of a monied aristocracy ; efforts to control opinion ; 
science, religion and legislation ; develops agrarianism and despera- 
tion in the lower classes; effects of wealth upon its possessors. 

LECTURE X. 

TJie Flay-hnpulse. — Art. 
The play-impulse defined ; manifest in animals and children ; a 
sign and means of health ; an element in all great success ; its relation 
to the sentiment of Beauty ; manifest in the works of Nature; influ- 
ence on life ; on fashion ; games and amusements ; holiday festivities ; 
religion and worship ; its relation to moral earnestness ; the produc- 
tion of Art ; effects of aesthetic culture on man and on society. 



LECTURE XI. 

fF a IS oj Co n i] ue s t . 
General effects of War ; Conquests regarded as facts from 
which to deduce the law of their recurrence ; their design ; cautions 
and limits in the use of this method of judging of the economy of 
Conquests; the general principle illustrated by the conquest of Bar- 
barians by civilized nations-, of civilized nations by Barbarians; cf 
Israel by the Assyrians, the early Christians by the Mahometans, 
of the East by Alexander, of Greece by Rome, of Rome by the 
Northern Barbarians. 

LECTURE XII. 
IVi'.rs oj Rtvolution and development oj Civil Liberty. 

Revolutions of two kinds ; those which occur in a nation, and 
those by which colonial dependencies become independent nations ; 
the natural limits of nationality ; necessity for colonization ; for 
colonies becoming independent ; the social compact theory ; how 
far true of all governments ; the right of revolution ; its basis ; the 
Patriarchal form of government ; changes into a military despotism, 
then a limited monarchy ; a republic ; dangers of revolutions in ; 
from whence they arise ; the three great experiments of modern 
times: Russia, England and the United States. 

LECTURE Xlli. 

Great Men in Hist or x. 
Great men of two classes ; points of resemblance ; ot contrast ; 
character a resultant of forces ; forces necessary to make the great 
man ; natural history of greatness ; the great teacher ; his position 
in society ; his wisdom distinguished from the inspiration of the 
sacred writers ; the great leader ; analysis ol his character ; influence 
in controlling the minds ot men ; over the course ot events. 

LECTURE XIV. 

A Moral Governor and Final Cause in History. 
Moral government implied in the idea of God ; necessary to the 
understanding of History ; extent of human agency in the control 
of historic events; great laws and principles in history ; application 



of induction to historic facts ; the use of wicked men for good 
purposes ; nations used in working out a ccmprehcnsive plan ; the 
end of human history. 

LECTURE XV. 

The three Stages of Humanity. 
Analogy i^ctwecn the history of the race and the life of man; 
anticipations of the future; early eastern prophesies and expecta- 
tions ; the " mjllenium " ; reasons for expecting a higher life for 
man on earth; the growth of humanity; its manhood, striving 
and ambitious ; indications of an approaching change in the stand- 
ard of excellence ; bearings on the future ; type of civilization im- 
proved by the change in men 5 effect en social distinctions amelio- 
ration of the condition of the lower classes, and the views of life. 



PART II. 

Special Causes that determine the Peculiarities of 
National Character and History. 

LECTURE I. 

Of the Invest'igatwR of Historic Facts. 
Transition from the general principles ot the Philosophy of His- 
tory to the study of History itself; its Facts cannot all be recorded ; 
principle of selection; not isolated ; grow out of a unity of Historic 
life ; the few thus indicate the course of events ; the interpretation 
of myths; of accounts of supernatural persons and events; the preju- 
dices of writers ; intentional frauds and misstatements ; partial 
statements : Human Nature the key to History. 

LECTURE IL 

Pre- historic Nations. 

How fa^ unity implies community of origin ; the early cosmogonies ; 
points of agreement in them, and between them and the Mosaic 
account ; with modern science ; the Greek and Roman mythologies 
compared with the early Eastern ; their later forms accounted for ; 
Oriental Despotism; its origin; temple-palaces; gardens with the 
sacred tree or groves ; serpent-worship ; bearing on the authenticity 
of the Book of Genesis. 

LECTURE in. 
Greece. 

History a series of experiments on a large scale; the history ot 
Greece as solving several ; the commencement of a new era ; the 
development of an indigenous civilization; its early myths ; what 
they refer to ; the monarchical and democratic elements ; Sparta 



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and Athens ; the origin of Philosophy ; the limits to its power to 
satisfy the wants of man ; the Socratic idea of education; Grecian 
Art ; its influence upon the decline of Grecian civilization. 

LECTURE IV. 

Rovit' and the Civil Law. 
The Civil Law; circumstances of the origin of Rome ; the races 
that entered into its early population ; the conflicts between the 
patricians and plebeians as shaping the national character and polity; 
codification of the Civil Law ; its process in criminal jurisdiction ; 
as an engine of despotism ; became the basis of the Canon law ; 
introduction into the continental nations of Europe ; influence upon 
the character of their civilization ; the Italian Republics ; prospects 
ot free government in Europe. 

LECTURE V. 

Jewish and Christum Disj>i'nsafions Historically considered. 
Have a Historic value and influence irrespective of their being 
Revelations from God ; lav the foundation of Modern Civilization ; 
the Personality of God : the Jewish civil polity ; security for the 
natural rights of man; " homestead exemption ;" limits to the accu- 
mulation of wealth ; ritual ; tithes and priesthood ; national defence ; 
Christianity presupposes the earlier civilizations ; lays the founda- 
tion of a new ; influence on the progress ot human science ; op 
private character; social relations'- public polity ; prepares the way 
for self-government and civil liberty. 

LECTURE VL 

The Papal Siipreinacy. 
Intimations of the Papacy in the Scriptures; organization of the 
"Primitive Church;" earlv heresies and troubles in the East; 
position oi the Bishop of Rome ; historic influences which developed 
his supremacy; the necessity for it; assumption of civil authority"; 
his relation to the Monavchs and Barons of the middle ages; neces- 
sity for the assumption of infallibility ; compared with the Jewish 
Monarchy ; Council of Trent ; position of the Papacy since that 
time. 



LECTURE VII. 

The M I d d I e A ges . 
The rule of Christian life ; things commanded and things per- 
mitted ; Anchorites; Monasteries; circumstances which led to their 
multiplication in Europe during the Middle Ages • changes in their 
character and avowed designs ; increase and extent of their wealth ; 
life outside of the Monasteries; character and occupation of the 
Monks ; became Statesmen and Ecclesiastics ; number and repro- 
duction of books; general character of medieval civilization; 
" darkness " of the dark ages; character of their literature. 

LECTURE VIII. 
Reactions against the Middle Ages. 
The laws of continuity and polarity in History ; the leading idea 
of the Middle Ages; extent of centralization and authority; origin 
of the philosophic reaction ; Roger Bacon ; religious reaction ; 
central idea of the Reformation in Germany ; the Reformation in 
England ; political reactions in Germany ; in England ; in France ; 
downfall of the Feudal Aristocracy ; its character and influence; 
rise of the commercial and manufacturing interests ; influence upon 
the character of modern civilization. 

LECTURE IX. 

The Celts — France. 
Early settlements of Europe; extinct races; subordinate races, 
Iberians, Finns, Cimri, Hungarians, Turks; migration of the Celts; 
their physical and psychological character ; intermingle with the 
Iberians ; subordinated to the Teutons ; the foundation of France ; 
Teutonic and Celtic element in its population ; character of the 
Franks; of the French nation; want of moral earnestness; the 
Reformation ; the French Revolution ; restoration of the Empire 
under Louis Napoleon. 

LECTURE X. 

The Teutons— Germany. 
Physical and psychological characteristics ; their migrations ; the 



dominant race from antiquity ,• in North Eastern Asia ; in China • 
in India; in Greece; Germanic tribes; migrations from the shore' 
of the Baltic southward ; their conquests ; the foundation of the 
modern kingdoms of Europe ; Euric ; Theodoric; Alfred; Ruric • 
Charlemagne; the Germanic Empire; foundation of Prussia and 
Austria; Feudalism; Chivalry; Germany at the Reformation- 
German Poetry and Philosophy. 

LECTURE XI. 

England— Her Church and Lazv. 
The English Colonies ; ethnology of the English population • 
ongm of the common law in Anglo-Saxon times ; contests between 
the Normans and Anglo-Saxons; their influence in developing and 
maturmg English jurisprudence: its course of proceeding in crimi- 
nal cases, contrasted with that of the Civil Law ; promotes a self- 
respectmg manhood; lays the basis for self-government and free 
institutions; origin of the Papal ascendancy in England- Savon 
opposition to it during the Middle Ages; never fully assemed to - 
rejected by the Church; the new ritual; position and polity of 
the English Church ; English financial policy since the Revolution ; 
its effects upon the people. 

LECTURE XIL 

Russia and the Eastern Church. 
Contrast to the older forms of European civilization ; the Sclavi • 
foundation of the Russian Empire and introduction of Christianity • 
position and character of the Eastern Church ; Russia as the civil- 
izer of the East; character of its civilization as contrasted with that 
of the Teutonic and Celtic nations ; Russian despotism ; Russian 
view of European civilization. 

LECTURE XIII. 

The United States. 

Different theories of our position and destiny ; time, and object 

in the settlement of this country; race, and climatic influences ; the 

early settlers; their character and designs; externa! influences 

which moulded the forms of our institutions ; popular sovereigntv • 



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religious freedom ; ciic basis ot -d Tievv type ot civilization ; necessity 
for a servile class ; danger from its becoming too large ; danger 
from foreign influences : Romanism and Protestantism ; psycholog- 
ical indications of success ; Yankee character and influence; exter- 
nal indications ; danger froir unequal distribution of wealth ; limit 
to this danger in the character of the people, and in the law that 
limits the accumulation of capital in individual hands ; political in- 
fluence of an independent veomanrv. 

LECTURE XIV. 

T/ii; Career diid Dozuiifall of N>itious. 
The four great kingdoms of prophecy ; the fifth ; the idea of 
each ; civilization moves westward ; extinction of races and the 
rises of new ones into power and ascendancy ; each nation exists for 
an end : characteristics of the heroic age of nations ; termination of 
the heroic age ; change in the national ch.aractcr and the com- 
mencement of decline; return or barbarism; extinction; reasons 
for believing that this is not the inevitable law. 

LECTURE XV. 
L I J e in Hist o r y . 
History for man, and man not for history; man in some sense the 
end of his own creation ; conditions necessary for his attaining his 
destiny ; moral purity ; freedom ; society ; work ; man a product 
of history; a prophecy of its future; moulded by circumstances, 
and under social laws which the Philosophy of history should dis- 
cover and teach > these laws like the natural, and not like the re- 
vealed laws, operate regardless of our ignorance of them ; " the 
discipline of sorrow"; Conclusion. 



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